In one aspect this invention relates to vehicular trailer hitches. More particularly, this invention relates to vehicular trailer hitches of the lunette type frequently used on trailers for construction equipment and other heavy-duty trailers.
Trailers for construction equipment and other heavy-duty trailers often use a lunette eye trailer tongue construction. The lunette type tongue includes a rigid, durable, hitch ring or eye in the shape of a torus, which can be placed over or secured to a vertical post or pin on the vehicle. While the lunette eye allows a certain amount of vertical movement of the trailer tongue along the vertical post, the primary movement is horizontal in nature. Lunette eye trailers are particularly advantageous for construction equipment and other heavy-duty off-road type usage. A lunette hitch obviates the need for sockets and other closed hitching structures that are subject to corrosion, dirt collection and rapid deterioration when exposed to weather and other severe operating conditions. Of course, military type vehicles are classic examples of vehicles subjected to severe usage.
In addition to harsher than normal operating conditions, military equipment has a very long life cycle. Thus, it is necessary for older equipment to be mated with newer vehicles or trailers which were not designed to operate as a unit. Since all the parts of one system are designed to operate together but may have different operating parameters, there are times when a required vehicle is not available to mate with a particular trailer configuration. This creates problems and the trailer cannot be used.
In addition to age and design parameters, military trailers run the gamut from small xc2xd ton light-duty trailers up to substantial high tonnage trailers designed to haul large quantities of heavy cargo and ammunition.
It would be desirable to have a vehicle hitch adapter which can be used with the lunette eye of the trailer tongue and allow the trailer be functionally attached to a wide variety of powered equipment in the military fleet having a lunette type mounting. Such an adapter should be simple in construction, easy-to-use and allow the trailer tongue to be attached to a variety of vehicles where the hitch height varies over a distance of several inches.
The vehicular trailer hitch adapter of the present invention solves the problems of mismatched equipment. The adapter can be used with a trailer or other towed device which has a lunette eye mounted on the end of a towing tongue. The lunette eyes are generally toroidal in nature and firmly attached to the end of the towing tongue. However, the lunette structure can also be formed as a rounded end on the towing tongue with an aperture formed near the terminus of the tongue, the tongue generally formed with flat parallel faces. The lunette structure is used to attach the trailer to a truck or other prime mover having a complimentary mounting such as a pintle, or boss and pin structure adapted to receive and hold the lunette eye.
The adapter of this invention has a housing with a lunette eye structure that extends from one end. The lunette structure is adapted to mate with a corresponding structure on the vehicle that is to tow the desired piece of equipment. The housing has apertures formed in its upper and lower faces to allow insertion of a retention pin.
A plurality of rectangular inserts nest within the housing. Each insert has a recess formed on one face, the recess adapted to hold and enclose the lunette eye of the tongue attached to the towed device. The recess is sized to hold the lunette and at least a portion of the tongue near the eye to retain the lunette eye of the trailer firmly within the housing. Each insert has an aperture formed in the recess, the apertures in the inserts aligning coaxially with the lunette eye when the lunette is in the recess and also aligning with the apertures in the upper and lower faces of the housing. Thus when the inserts, and lunette are all located within the housing, the retention pin""s elongated cylindrical body can be inserted into and extend through all the apertures to bind the unit together.